Yamaha men continue to dominate on second day at Catalunya - March 4th 2006

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi clocked the fastest time once again on the second day of MotoGP Official Test at the Catalunya Circuit in Spain, after another encouraging session for Yamaha. With Rossi again setting the pace for much of the day, closely followed by his team-mate Colin Edwards, the pair took advantage of the warm afternoon conditions to continue to run through their pre-season testing programme at an impressive rate.

Edwards ended the day with the fourth fastest time after briefly leading the time sheets in the closing stages, shaving seven tenths of a second off his best time from yesterday and making continued progress with the race set-up of his YZR-M1 machine. Rossi lapped 1.2 seconds faster than he had managed yesterday, closing in on lap record time as both riders prepare an assault on tomorrow's timed 40-minute session, which will reward the fastest lap with the prize of a new car.

Meanwhile, Yamaha Tech 3 rider Carlos Checa continued his impressive pre-season form with the second fastest time of the day.

Valentino Rossi (1st, 1'42.477, 72 laps);

"To go so fast so early in the test yesterday was the big surprise to us, so today we have just built on that and continued to make improvements. We completed some more important tests and the base setting is good now - we had a few problems with chatter earlier in the pre-season but we seem to have solved those now and today the lap times became faster and faster. I'm also really happy because, to me, this bike feels like my daughter and now I can see it is going well for other riders - Colin and Carlos both love it. Looking at the time sheets this evening of course I am in with a good chance for the new car, but tomorrow is another day and we will have to see what happens. Hopefully the weather will stay as it has done for the last couple of days and we can complete the whole programme we had planned for this test in a positive way."

Colin Edwards (4th, 1'43.388, 65 laps);

"We had a few things to test today and every step we made seemed to take us in a positive direction, so I couldn't be happier really. The bike is getting better and better and we just keep improving so that is all I can ask for. The cool track temperatures mean that we can't do much for Michelin here so we're just focusing on the bike and refining the setting as much as we can before Jerez. We played with the suspension and the engine mapping a little today but we had no major dramas and the 65 laps went by really quickly. Right now I feel we're ready to go racing so it's just a case of adding the finishing touches."

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director;

"Another good day for Yamaha! It is nice to see our bikes at the top end of the time sheets - the riders are doing a great job and the team are able to stick closely to the testing programme. We had some items to test for Michelin and Yamaha today - mainly with the chassis setting to try and improve the variables of the bike. We got some good information together and now we're ready for the challenge tomorrow. Really the car is not so important but it would be nice to start the year in a positive way and both our riders are ready to compete for it."